Muv-Luv Alternative Faraway Dawn Guide/Tips
Basic tips for the two Muv-Luv Alternative strategy games included in Altered Fable and Haruko Maniax. Gameplay Basics Icon Explanation Each icon on the map represents one group of units. Each player group is composed of 12 individual units. These can be tanks, armored vehicles or TSFs. As BETA are cheating bastards, they cram much more units into each group, and deploy many many more groups than the player. The number of units in BETA groups are determined by the difficulty level you are playing on. The icon represents what type of unit the group is composed of. Unlike the BETA, the player cannot stack or consolidate groups. The small number on the top left denotes how many units are left in a group. The small number on the upper right indicates how many action points the group still has. The large number or characters in the center denote what weapon is currently equipped. For TSFs, a 36 denotes that the group currently has their 36mm Chaingun equipped a 120 shows that they're currently equipped with the 120mm cannons, ナイフ indicates that the group is equipped with the Type-65 Knives, and 長刀 denotes that they're equipped with the Type-74 CIWS Sword. For the Type-90 MBTs, 120 indicates that the tank's main cannon is equipped, and 12.7 indicates the nigh useless 12.7mm machine guns. The Type-87 SPAAGs only have one weapon, the 35mm anti-aircraft gun. The blue bar indicates how much of the absolutely vital Anti-Laser Coating remains for the group, and the arrow denotes the group facing. Supply Container Types This should be fairly obvious. You can resupply while on, or around the hex the container is on. Resupplying (if possible) at the end of each stage in Campaign Mode is vital, since ammunition and fuel carry over to the next stage. Movement There are three types of movement for TSFs: walking/running on the ground, boost jumping and flight. AP is the only limitation on a unit's movement range. However, AP costs for TSF movement also includes the costs for turning, making long-distance travel on the ground prohibitive. Armored vehicles can only travel on the ground, but are capable of performing lateral movement cheaper than TSFs are. This is because armored vehicles don't need to turn to move to the sides or rear. For these units, movement of one hex costs a flat 3 AP, regardless of direction. Boost Jump TSFs can only boost jump towards directions determined by their facing. There are six types of boost jump, which are unlocked as a unit levels up. Flight Flight costs 15 AP to activate and costs fuel, but reduces AP cost for turning and movement to trivial amounts. Turning 60 degrees while flying only costs 1 AP, while forward movement of three hexes also costs 1 AP. A TSF unit can move across most maps in a single turn while flying. It also allows TSFs to avoid any attack from most BETA. However, flying TSFs are vulnerable to attack from Laser-class BETA. Some scenarios feature off-map Laser-class BETA, which prevent flight (but not boost jumping). Landing (if not forced by Laser-class fire) costs 4 AP. Units Type-77 Gekishin Has the least amount of Anti-Laser Coating from all units from my observation, but it may be false. Don't try to turn her a lot, it's a bad idea. She works best when she boost jumps into the middle of the BETA horde and unloads her chaingun into anything in front of her, or when holding the line.. Always think about what it will do next turn when you use her, just throwing her in the middle of BETA horde without support is bad idea. At first you don't have truly amasing pilots in Gekishins, but one you have people with AA+ rank, they'll show that she is quite deadly and more effective then SPAAGs. Type-89 Kagerou Huge improvement over Gekishin. It's still bad idea to turn them a lot, but she can easily stomach few turns and have enoug action points left to wreck some shit. Nothing to really write about, she does her job well. Type-94 Shiranui She's fucking awesome, that's all you need to know. Great amount of Anti-Laser Coating, great mobility, she can turn for fucking 2(TWO!) AP if there is AA+ pilot(Gekishin and Kagerou turn for 4 AP). Level her pilots ASAP She can easily boost jump behind BETA horde right into Laser class with some clever positioning, and slaughter them all in one turn.She is the best thing ever you'll have. Treasure her, and treasure her Anti-Laser Coating. Type-97 Fubuki You'll get them with F and E ranked pilots, so you will think they are the shittiest thing there is. Actually, not so much. She can turn for 2 AP, like Shiranui. That's a HUGE bonus. In fact, it's a Shiranui with just less action points and fuel. Level her pilots, and she will shine. She's on par/situationally better then Kagerou and far better then Gekishin. Blame extremply low ranked pilots, not the TSF. Type-00 Takemikazuchi Like her name implies, she is god, plain and simple. You will not have her for long, so don't dream and rank up Shiranui pilots. Type-90 Battle Tank Anything lower then B rank can't do anything usefull. B to A ranks are usefull. But from AA and onwards Battle Tanks are very usefull. He can wreck a lot of shit. His 12,7 machine gun can swipe through Tank and lesser Laser classes easily, and switching weapons costs 0 AP, unlike on TSF. High ranked tanks with few SPAGGs can easily hold a line agains nearly anything even without TSFs. Try always move them forward so you can shoot down as many targets as you can. Any melee BETA will destroy them very easily. Type-87 SPAAG Again, lower ranked can't do shit, but high ranked are truly amasing. Any melee BETA will destroy them, yet again, very easily. They are my primary Laser huntres when I play defensively and turtle. They have great range and their gun is strong against anything short of Destroyer class front armor. It's slower then tanks because it has less action points. That's all, really. Don't neglect them and tanks, they can, and will, serve you very well. Attacking Group Facing and Firing Arc Group facing determines firing/attack arc and effectiveness, as well as the direction of certain jumps. Weapons have different ranges. The 36mm Chaingun has four hexes of range, while the 120mm cannon can reach targets eight hexes away, as shown above. Melee weapons such as knives and swords can only damage enemies adjacent to the unit. Meanwhile, the Type-87's 35mm anti-aircraft gun has seven hexes of range, while a Type-90 tank's 120mm main gun can hit targets 13 hexes away. The tank's 12.7mm machine gun is effective up to four hexes away. Attack Effectiveness An attack's potential damage is indicated by the symbol over the BETA group. No symbol means the attack will not hit, a triangle means the attack would have very low effectiveness, and a circle shows that the attack would be effective against its target. The more circles there are, the clearer shot you have, and thus can deal more damage with fewer shots/swings. Hovering the mouse cursor above a valid target will reveal a radial menu indicating the number of attacks that can be made on the enemy. The numbers directly correspond to the amount of ammunition that would be fired (for firearms) or the number of swings/uses (for melee weapons). The option at the center of the menu is the command to attack the enemy until it is destroyed, or the unit runs out of AP. This is the ideal choice if the player seeks to conserve ammuntion against weakened targets: only the necessary amount of shots will be fired, reducing the potential for wastage. Though, due to RNG nature of the game engine, manually selecting amount of ammunition spent will yeield more damage per point of ammo spent. Targets that can be shot are is determined by unit heights, so buildings and debris can provide cover to both you and the BETA. BETA will actively destroy cover. While playing it safe and hiding behind covers on lower levels of difficulty is a fair choise of strategy, on higher levels most BETA will one-shot any cover, so you're left with very few options. One thing to note is that TSFs are taller than tanks and APCs so they can't be fired over by the latter. In the worst case, they can be used to shield the latter. Menu Explanations Unit Status Block The "AA" space on the top right denotes the group level, with the bar undeneath it determining experience. The 12/12 indicates current and total possible units in the group. The 27/27 denotes current and max Action Points. Your AP will recover by it's max at the start of all of your phases, and increases with different TSFs and levels. The number that in in the space of the 230/230 determine how much fuel is left for Boost Jumping and/or flying. The blue bar once again denotes Anti-Laser Coating. The numbers in the lefthand column indicate how much ammo/uses is left in a particular weapon, while the right hand column indicate how many spare magazine you have left, and thus how many times you can reload left. As your group unit increases the group gains special bonuses and new Boost Jump types. The white-bordered box below shows information about the hex the unit is currently standing on. The left-hand column shows the terrain type and its additional movment cost. The right-hand column indicates the terrain's bonus to evasion and defense. Terrain information for unoccupied hexes could also be seen by hovering the mouse cursor over the desired area. If a hex has an obstruction, then only the type and height of the obstruction will be displayed. Unit Menu Right clicking on of your units will bring up this menu, or a variant thereof. The first two menu items are Move and Attack respectively, but there are much better done simply left clicking on the unit and selecting where you want to move and want to what to attack. The next menu item is very important, it allows you to change what weapon that group is currently equipped with. The numbers displayed in the drop down list are the respective AP cost to do so. The next menu item is Jump. The first is the standard boost jump and ever many AP it costs to do is displayed by the square you are jumping to. The next is Jump & Attack. Space Movement cost is displayed on a given space, and enemies that can be attacked during your Jump will be highlighted after you select a space to Jump to.. The next is Back Jump, your unit jumps backward. The next is Boost Hop that moves forward at the cost of 4 AP and some fuel, generally your unit have the lowest chance to be scorchaed by Laser class when perfoming this maneuver. Nest is is Jump and Turn Around, very usefull against Destroyer class. And the last one is Boost Hop & Attack. The next menu item is Flight. You can move for very little AP, can't be attacked by non-Lux, can move over any BETA units or obstacles in your way, but burns huge amount of fuel and Lux will instantly rape you to death if present and capable of firing. The next menu item is Turn 60 Degrees Counter Clockwise. The next is Turn 60 degrees Clockwise. Both take 4 AP. And the last option is backstep one space at the cost of 6 AP, though this is only present in 2. The above is a picture of what is displayed when you left click upon one of your units. The numbers displayed are how much AP it will cost to move to that space without turning. BETA with shapes over them are groups that can be attacked. Unit Level Leveling units is extremly important. Higher the level, better unit will fare, dealing more damage, having better accuracy, having more action points, and in case of TSF pilots, turning for less action points, having better chace at surviving both Lux attacks and close combat with Grapplers/Destroyers. Lowest rank is F''', hughest rank is SSS'. Unit's potential, like cost to level it up, grows exponentially, SSS ranked unit can overall fight about 200(two hundred) times better then F ranked one. Different BETA strains give different amount of EXP points for killing them. Tank-class yield the least, followed by Grapplers and Destroyers, then Lux, then Magnus Lux, and the biggest amount of EXP points naturally yield Fortress-class. '''EXP needed to level from previos rank' AP increase with level Combat With the BETA Approach most strains of BETA by exploiting their behavioral weakness as presented in the game, and use the appropriate weapon/s to defeat them. Lux/Magnus Lux (Magnus) Lux won't fire through other BETA, and can only fire so many times per phase. Lux firing range can also be seen by clicking on one, and is denoted by the arc. Flanking is sort of possible. The blue bar beneath them shows how many times they can fire, and how soon they can fire again. For Lux this is 1 shot per group per phase. For Magnus Lux, this is 1 shot per group per turn. Phase being Player Phase > BETA Phase > Player Phase etc.. With turn being One Player Phase and One BETA Phase. Anti-Laser Coating, like units, absolutely can not be recovered from the third stage on. And it is absolutely vital to the survival of your groups as if you can't accurately predict where a Lux can fire upon, this is the only leeway you have before your groups get nearly annhilated from just one attack. Though, this only applies to Campaign Mode. The longer your unit is in firing range, and the closer it to Lux, the more Anti-Laser Coating Lux will burn. Also, RNG determines how many units you will lose if you stay too long in the Lux's firing range, so save/load is your best friend. ' ' And among one of the most important things is to learn how and when you can boost jump while Lux are present. This can't really be explained and can only really be figured out through trial and error, but some tips are look where a Lux's firing arc is. If there's anything one space ahead of it that's taller than it, you can almost freely jump within its firing arc. Of course, you can also jump so long as you're not in a firing arc. Though, Magnus Lux are much taller than most other BETA, debris and buildings, and thus are harder to stop. Refer to the image to the right. 36mm chain guns and 35mm autocannon are most effective against the Lux. However, the Magnus Lux are much heavier armored, and 120mm Cannons and Type-74 Swords are just about the only thing capable of bringing them down. Though pilots with AA+ rank can fairly safely shoot them down even with chain guns. Remember that it takes AP to turn and attack for BETA too! (Magnus)Lux-class will usually turn even when there is not enough AP to fire. Magnus Lux: 11 AP total, 5 AP to turn 30, 6 AP to fire, 5 AP to move one hex. Lux: 12 AP total, 3 AP to turn 30, 3 AP to fire, 4 AP to move one hex. Destroyer-class Destroyer-class BETA can only move in a straight line, turning costs a large(whooping 8 for turning 30 degree) amount of AP for them. You can relatively save sidestep Destroyer class and it will spend all it's action points turning. Then sidestep again next turn and it will spend the whole turn doint it again. Just beware that it costs a mere 3 AP points for them to attack you, and they have 11 AP, so they can turn 30 and kill whatever is standing near themThey are easiest to defeat with 120mm cannons and swords from the front. High-level units can kill Destroyers with knifes, but at high AP cost. However, Destroyers are vulnerable from the rear. If attacked from the back, TSFs' 36mm guns and the Type-87's 35mm autocannon can easily take down Destroyers. As such, flanking or boost jump maneuvers (as long as there are no Laser-classes) can prove effective against them. On higher level of difficulty that's the only way to defeat them without concetrating Type-90 Battle Tank 120mm cannon fire. A-ranked pilots can defend themselves and, if RNG is merciful, captain Luck is on your side and Lady Awesome blessed you, completly nullify attack done by unit consisting of any number of Destroyers if your units is facing attacking Destroyers(arrow pointing unit's direction turned into blast icon) at cost of some fuel. I had my S ranked Gekishin survive attack done by 260 Destroyers without losing anybody in progress at cost of 17 fuel. 11 AP total, 8 AP to turn 30, 1 AP to move one hex, 3 AP to attack. Can't move more then 8 hexes in one turn. Those Little Red Fuckers (Tank-class) The Tank-class are the usually most numerous BETA on the battlefield. Don't get near those little red fuckers, as, if they grasp onto your TSF or armored vehicles, you'll either have to slowly destroy them with the knives and risk counterattack damage, or friendly fire using machine guns. Tank and SPAAT groups are basically lost as soon as they've been grabbed onto. Though that applies only to low ranked pilots. C ranked ones can kill their own units even with knifes. High ranked (AA+) ones can kill grasped ones even with 36mm chaingun. A+ ranked battletanks can kill gasped BETA using 12,7mm machine gun without damaging your units too. Technically, all weapon types will work on them. The 35mm and 36mm guns are the ideal weapons to use. However, 120mm cannons are ineffective, since the number of shots fired per attack (6 shots max for TSF, 4 shots max for tanks) is too low compared to the fuckers' numbers. For tanks, even the 12.7mm machine gun is more effective than their main gun. On high enough ranked battletanks it is extremly effective against them. 3 AP to turn 30, 3 AP to move one hex, they will not attack grasped target the turn they gasped. Grappler Class 36mm Chain Guns, 35mm Machine Guns, 120mm Cannons, Type-74 Swords prove most effective. Type-65 Knives will also work if you don't have enough AP to change weapons, but far from ideal. Try not to shoot them in front, as they'll defend themselves with their claws, and it greatly reduces damage they take. High ranked pilots(A+) can defend themselfs if they face attacking Grappler(direction arrow on units turns into blast icon). It takes little amount of fuel to completly defend against Grappler attack, nullifying some, if not all damage. RNG strikes back! They can, like Destroyer class, be fairly easily kited. 11 AP total, 2 AP to turn 30, 3 AP to attack, 2 AP to move one hex. Gravis Anything not 120mm Cannon or Type-74 Sword need not apply. General Tips *'SAVE OFTEN'. 'At the beginning, middle and end of each of your phase at the very least, as well as before any risky moves you make. *'PRESSING Z WILL ALLOW YOU TO UNDO ANY MOVES ASIDE FROM ATTACKING OR RESULTED IN YOU BEING ATTACKED SUCH AS JUMPING/FLYING WHEN LUX ARE PRESENT. *As the number of units in a group declines, it's effectiveness in battle decreases greatly. If a high ranking/level group loses more than than a third of its initial units, you should probably reload. *Turning is absolutely essential to positioning and moving efficiently. *Be careful as smaller strains such as Lux and those little red fuckers can merge into groups with large BETA strains. The larger strains must be killed before you can damage the group of the smaller strain, though they can still fire upon you. *On maps with Fuel and Ammo Containers, make sure you reload your units at least once, and if you can, make sure to leave one relatively harmless enemy left, and have all of your units reload and all of your TSFs refuel, before clearing the stage. Also, using a container will completely fill up the ammo in a gun. Though, resupplying and refueling tend to take most if not all of your AP, potentially leaving you at a negative number. The BETA can and will destroy the supply containers, so be cautious of that. Again, this only applies to Campaign Mode. *Start on Very Easy difficulty rather than anything else. This will allow you to get the basics down, while still being challenging. Don't let the Very Easy fool you, though, it's still very very possible to lose. *The game uses RNG, not flat %, so it's possible to savescum and shoot down triangular marked targets with the same amount of ammo you'll spend shooting circle marked targets. *You can boost jump relatively save with some, surprise, save scumming. Chose TSF squad you need the least. Find a nice spot in the second turn, in first turn BETA has full action points. It's more difficult to do this in the first turn, sure, but more rewarding. It costs action points to shoot for Laser class to, so if you hide you unit at the edge of their firing arc, their laser fire will deal very little to none damage to laser coating even on Hell. After about 4 boosted jumps few of your TSFs would be able to do a nice and safe jump. With some practice and savescumming, you can easily destroy all Laser Class at the end of second turn player phase. *Learn to kite all non-laser classes. On harder game modes it's pure suicide to start killing them first without dealing with Lasers so you can safely boost jump around, they're overwhelm you. *TSF's 120mm on anything above Very Hard is nearly useless, due to sheer BETA numbers. Magnux Lux is the only BETA they'll remain effective no matter what due to their low numbers(just about 20 in pack on Hell) *Don't disregard Battle Tanks and SPAAGs, they are very effective if their rank is high(A+) enough. One S ranked SPAAG can easily mow down at least 150 Grapplers per one player phase. *While Very Hard and onwards can scare you with sheer amount of BETA there is, don't be afraid. You can rank up your units much faster then on very easy, and with A rank and onwards effectiveness of the unit grows exponentially. *Throwing your highest-ranked TSF into BETA lines to hold the horde is a valid tactic. High ranked(at least AA) pilots can completly evade all damage normally done by Grappler or Destroyer classes if they face the direction attack came from(arrow icon on TSF's icon changed into blast icon). Again, due to RNG nature of the engine, it is possible by repeated save/loading to cheat it. Category:Guide Category:Altered Fable Category:Haruko Maniax Category:Faraway Dawn